The subject matter disclosed herein relates to industrial equipment such as turbines, generators, motors, compressors and other industrial equipment that requires lifting and/or transporting a casing section.
A typical piece of industrial equipment, for example a turbine employed in the production of electrical power, includes one or more rotating blades surrounded by an outer casing. Such turbines operate in an acceptable manner in most instances. As with other mechanical devices, the turbine may need periodic or specific maintenance.
In some cases, the maintenance requires that a portion of the outer casing be removed to allow access interior portions of the turbine. Typically this requires utilizing a crane to remove the portion of the outer casing. However, utilizing a crane also requires that a portion of the roof of the enclosure housing the turbine be removed to allow the crane to access the casing. The removal of the roof and the cost of utilizing a crane can increase the costs and manpower demands of the maintenance. When maintenance needs to be performed in the case of a turbine failure, the time required to provide for crane access also becomes important. Furthermore, in some regions it may be too cold to perform the required maintenance with an open roof. In such cases, the required maintenance may be postponed causing revenue loss, or at minimum, increased costs related to heating the work area.